The American Professionals (AKA Ampros) are a power rock trio from San Francisco. The band was formed in 2003 and the current lineup revolves around Chuck Lindo on guitar and vocals, Cheryl Hendrickson on bass and vocals, and Adam White on drums. 'We Make It Our Business' is the band's second full length album, compising eleven songs packed chock full of catchy riffs and clever lyrics, that allow the band to stand out from most others that inhabit this cluttered musical genre.
Whilst the album cover looks initially bland (a picture of the world in blue on a white background) if you look a bit closer, you see that this is actually a humourous take on corporate branding, and with the Ampros' logo portrayed as a Nike-style tick you can see that the band is firmly tongue in cheek on this one.
However, what of the music? The eleven tracks on the album are well crafted, and the opener 'Other People' is a real blast. With post punk power chords, a slightly jerky rhythm, and some excellent lyrics about the alienated generation: - “ I wish I'd thought of that first, maybe I did, but you'll never know/ Guess I just left it lying there, well see if I care. If I did would I ever let it go?/ Let's make it up as we go along, maybe we are, but we'll never tell."
Following this is the rather humourous Dr. Holly, an ode to a psychiatrist. To me this sounded a little like Green Day, but very light hearted: - “Dr. Holly please help me, I'm oh, so sad/Am I more than just the sum of what I don't have?”
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Things take a different turn with tracks like 'The Mist', a Velvet Underground styled number, that worms its way into the listener's affections. With Cheryl taking over the lead vocals, this shows a softer, more serious side to the band: - “You got the weight of the moon, baby, time to get your feet on the ground/ The mist, she rumbles with sound, baby, smoothing out my furrowed brow.”
The band pull out all the stops on a cover version, 'The Way It Goes', originally by Gillian Welch, an excellent observation of the lives and deaths of the people around us: - “Becky Johnson bought the farm, put a needle in her arm/ That's the way that it goes, that's the way/ And her brother laid her down in the cold Kentucky ground/ That's the way that it goes, that's the way.”
With tracks as good as these, hopefully the band will attract some attention over here as well as in the states. The album is available as a CD copy from CD Baby, and can be purchased as a download from We Make It Our Business online. This is well worth pursuing.
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